Of Faith and Friends

For a great part of my life I have been misunderstood. I do not know if it was the writer in me that made me "weird" and "shy" or the things I went through in my childhood. But I always had trouble communicating and forging relationships with people. Still do to a degree. But I am managing to overcome that little by little. It does require a measure of faith, though.

People have asked me, "How can you put your life out there online for the world to see?" How can you trust that the weirdos aren't going to come knocking on your door or steal your identity? And the answer is, I don't know that. But I do know that it can happen just as easily offline. People are not always what they seem to be offline either. Some find it just as easily to lie and deceive to your face. You really can't know another until you have been around them for a long time. You have to choose to put yourself out there where people are. You have to be willing to be a friend to have friends. And just as there are goofballs online...there are goofballs off. You have to be smart. You have to use a little common sense. And sometimes you have to take a chance. Otherwise, you spend your entire life in your own little cocoon and miss out on some really special people.

I would be lying to you if I said that I never get intimidated or worried about these things. But the truth is, I worry just as much about walking down the streets of my own hometown. It's the world we live in. And so we make the best of it. It helps to know that I have a few connections higher up. And that He watches out for me when I may be stepping off into the unknown. Sometimes He gently nudges me back into line. And sometimes He lets me walk down a path because I have a free will. How many times, I wonder, has He sent angels my way to keep me from harm? How many times have I come face to face with evil and His light blinded them from attacking? I may never know. I do know that walking through this life requires faith.

As Christians we are taught to walk by faith and not by sight. And so at times we find ourselves facing the unknown and yet believing that someday, somehow, the puzzle will all come together into one giant, glorious landscape--and that we will have come through it all with everything in place and intact. Without this hope, we might as well give up. If Christ is not who He says He is, and does not live and reign on the throne, then what is left? If ever there were a person that you could trust and put your faith in, it would be Him, the only perfect one to have walked the earth.

And you know what He said about life, He said: "In this world, you will have trouble. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." That's good enough for me. I just need to be reminded from time to time. Thanks for being here friends. You know who you are.